Varied skill set for AE (D) role

HEJ editor Jonathan Baillie examines the history of the AE (D) register and Panel, and talks to the latter’s chairman, Eric Thomas, to find out more. Before looking at IHEEM’s role as the holder of a register for AE (D)s, and the work and functions of the AE (D) Panel, we should perhaps first set out the functions of this key healthcare sector professional. According to IHEEM’s website, the primary role of the Authorising Engineer (Decontamination), commonly referred to in health service parlance as an AE (D), is to provide impartial auditing and advice on all aspects of decontamination – including cleaning, disinfection, and sterilising – of medical devices in the acute healthcare sector. This can, for example, embrace the design of decontamination facilities, and the specification and procurement of decontamination equipment such as sterilisers; washer-disinfectors for surgical instruments and for human waste containers; ultrasonic cleaners; automated endoscope reprocessors, and endoscope drying cabinets etc. Audit of decontamination processes, and decontamination equipment validation and testing reports, are also key areas of involvement for the AE (D), who may provide similar services to the primary care, laboratory, medical device manufacturing, and pharmaceutical manufacturing sectors. Looking at its history, the AE (D) role first came into being with the October 2006 publication of Department of Health Technical Memorandum HTM 00, Policy and Principles, and, more recently, Part A of the DH’s HTM 01-01 – Decontamination of reusable medical devices – Part A – Management and environment. This defines the typical management structure, key personnel, and relationships relating to decontamination in the healthcare sector. Prior to the role of AE (D) coming into being, many of the functions of such personnel were undertaken by individuals known as Authorised Persons (Sterilisers) or AP (S)s, with the latter role having itself come into existence in 1994, when a new HTM, 2010 Part 1, identified that role.

IHEEM’s earlier role

Eric Thomas, chairman of the currentday IHEEM AE (D) Panel, who has served in the role for just over a year, and, in his “day job”, is assistant director at NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership – Facilities Services (formerly Welsh Health Estates), elaborates: “IHEEM held the register for Authorised Persons (Sterilisers) from 1994 until the role’s replacement by the AE (D) function in late 2006. The Institute remains, as was the case with the AP (S), the only UK institute to hold a register of AE (D)s, and also operates the AE (D) Panel which screens potential new registrants’ applications, interviews those felt to have the right experience and professional expertise, and subsequently confers AE (D) registration on successful candidates.” Today’s AE (D) register is also maintained on an ongoing basis by the AE (D) Panel, on which the following bodies are represented by Panel members: